Bill’s Blog Page

Shut Off Valves

As a homeowner you may from time to time turn the water off to your house, maybe for piece of mind during your family vacation or maybe your like the rest of us trying to make a minor repair yourself to save a few bucks-BILL’S ADVICE- if your main shutoff valve is a round knob I strongly advise you to not use it.This type of valve,as it ages, is notorious for internally separating. What this means to you my thrifty friend is when you finish the task at hand and triumphantly return to open the valve, the knob just spins and spins as you try to open the water flow but the shaft has separated from the internal gate of the valve – at this point the valve must be replaced to get the water back on your house. So now its Saturday night and your wife is giving you one of those looks as you reach for your phone to find an after hours plumber.

 Instead, plan ahead, when you have a pending plumbing repair your trying to do yourself, preemptively look to see which type of valve is in your house. If its a levered valve(ball valve) go for it and good luck with your repair, if its a round knob ( gate valve) call us to come out during normal business hours, you”ll be glad you did.